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Corvette museum to display cars eaten by sinkhole

A sinkhole opened up and swalled 8 collectible Chevrolet Corvettes Wednesday at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky. Staff says 'tears were shed' over the loss of the classic cars.
VPC

The Associated Press
12:59 p.m. EST February 21, 2014

People want to see what happened, a museum spokeswoman says.

A 40-foot sinkhole at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky., swallowed eight of the sports cars on display inside the the facility's iconic Sky Dome early Feb. 12, 2014.(Photo: National Corvette Museum)

The cars will go on display before they're taken to Michigan for repairs. Museum spokeswoman Katie Frassinelli said the museum has heard from people wanting to see the damage.

The vehicles were consumed when the earth gave way Feb. 12 beneath a display area in the museum's Sky Dome before the tourist attraction opened for the day. No injuries were reported, and the Corvette plant about a half mile from the museum was not affected.

Work to retrieve the cars nearest the surface could start in a couple of weeks, Frassinelli said.

The museum plans to display the damaged cars from April through July:

1962 black Corvette

1984 PPG pace car for the Indy 500

1992 white 1 millionth-built Corvette

1993 ruby red 40th anniversary Corvette

1993 ZR1 Spyder on loan from General Motors, a design study that was never built.

2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 Corvette, a one-off tuner model.

2009 white 1.5 millionth-built Corvette.

2009 ZR1 "Blue Devil" on loan from General Motors, the show car for the re-introduction of the ZR1, last built in the early 1990s.

More cars will be added as they are recovered. Chevrolet is in charge of restoring the cars.

At the time of its release, the 2009 ZR1 "Blue Devil" Corvette was the most powerful
stock production car General Motors ever with a top speed of more than 200 mph and
a 638-horsepower engine. It is one of eight Corvettes that fell into a sinkhole that opened up under the National Corvette Museum on Feb. 12, 2014, in Bowling Green, Ky. (Photo: National Corvette Museum)

The very first Corvette off the line in 1953 was a white convertible with a red interior and the 1 millionth, finished on July 2, 1992, had exactly the same color scheme. The 1 millionth
Corvette had a 5.7-liter V8 engine with a 4-speed automatic transmission. (Photo: National Corvette Museum)

Like the first and 1 millionth Corvettes before it, the 1.5 millionth was a white convertible with a red interior. It was finished May 28, 2009. It had a Z51 performance
package, giving it a 6.2-liter V8 engine with 430 horsepower. (Photo: National Corvette Museum)

One of only 14,531 Corvettes made in 1962, the "tuxedo black" model owned by the National Corvette Museum was donated by David "The Weather Man" Donoho. The nickname came because Donoho would watch the weather closely and quickly take his Corvette home when he learned of a chance of rain. It is the oldest 'vette in the hole. (Photo: National Corvette Museum)

Mallett Cars of Concord, N.C., converted a stock 2001 Z06 Corvette, the first year the Z06 was made, taking the 5.7-liter 385-horsepower engine and increasing it to 700 hp.Kevin and Linda
Helmintoller of Tampa donated it in late 2013. (Photo: National Corvette Museum)

The orange 1984 PPG Indy Pace Car Corvette was a one-of-a-kind concept car specially developed to be one of the official pace cars for the Indy Car World Series. It has been at the National Corvette Museum since it opened almost 20 years ago. (Photo: National Corvette Museum)

This 1993 ruby red 40th anniversary Corvette is among 6,749 anniversary edition Corvettes, all with the ruby theme. (A 40th wedding anniversary for couples is the ruby anniversary, like the 50th is gold.) (Photo: National Corvette Museum)

This 1993 ZR1 Spyder Corvette convertible -- a design study never put in production -- features hood and quarter panel vents for engine compartment cooling not on regular production models. It has a tonneau cover for the passenger compartment which was meant to harken back to the Corvettes made in the 1950s and '60s. (Photo: National Corvette Museum)